Dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With the mechanization of sewing becoming ubiquitous, as well as the Victorian penchant for machine-made trimmings such as braid, lace and ribbons, women's dress became the foundation to which elaborate surface decoration was applied, not unlike the mass produced ornate trims added to the exterior of Victorian homes. These two examples poised in the brief period between the vogue for the lighter, puffed bustles of the 1870s and the more heavily upholstered bustles of the 1880s were seen in their day as à la sirene, or mermaid-like, in silhouette. Their extended bodices, called the "cuirasse" since they encased a woman's torso like body armor, were the clearest 19th century expression of the hourglass shape.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art